We all knew this was coming....Tainted Human Food

TexasTornado

New Member
I got this today -thought you all would be interested......sigh.....

Forbes.com
Tainted Pet Food Found in Hogs in Several States
04.24.07, 12:00 AM ET

TUESDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- Contaminated pet food, the
focus of a massive nationwide recall last month, has been fed to hogs
in at least five states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
announced Tuesday.
Ten pet food manufacturers sent unusable dog and cat food containing
the toxic chemical melamine to hog producers in California, New York,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and possibly Ohio, FDA officials
announced during a late afternoon press conference. Contaminated pet
food was also sent to one chicken farm in Missouri, the officials
added.

"Hogs that have been fed salvage pet food in North Carolina, South
Carolina and California were tested, and levels of melamine were
detected in their urine," Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, FDA's director of
the Center for Veterinary Medicine, told reporters at the
teleconference.

Whether any of the contaminated meat has entered the U.S. food supply
isn't known, Sundlof added. But all the hogs at the farms have been
quarantined, he said.

In addition, he said, the FDA has begun to test several types of
imported protein supplements used both in human and pet food for the
presence of melamine, a chemical used to make plastics and
fertilizers.

The imported melamine found in dog and cat food was apparently used
to boost the protein content of the foods, and has sickened and
killed an unknown number of animals.

"The FDA will begin testing a variety of protein ingredients in
finished products commonly found in the U.S. food and feed supply for
the presence of melamine," Sundlof said. The agency will focus on
newly imported products as well as products already in the country,
he added.

Products to be tested include wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate,
corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein and rice bran, Sundlof said.
Other products may be added to the list later.

These ingredients are used widely in human foods, Dr. David Acheson,
FDA's chief medical officer at the Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition, told reporters. "Things like breads, pastas, cereals,
pizza dough, energy bars and protein shakes," he added.

However, he said, "At this time there is no indication that melamine
has been added to ingredients other than those used in the pet food."

Melamine was first found in pet foods manufactured by the Canadian
company Menu Foods, which began its recall March 16 with moist dog
and cat foods made with melamine-contaminated wheat gluten from China.

The recall has since expanded to other pet food manufacturers and
other pet food ingredients, including the imported rice protein
concentrate and corn gluten.

On Tuesday, however, Sundlof also announced that in addition to
melamine, the FDA has now found cyanuric acid in the rice protein
concentrate used for the pet food.

Like melamine, cyanuric acid is a chemical that can be used to boost
the apparent protein content of foods but is normally used as a
stabilizer in outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.

"We are testing for that compound as well," Sundlof said.

The pet food recall has gotten the attention of the U.S. Congress,
and two senators have asked the FDA to be more forthcoming in
disclosing information about the companies involved in importing pet
food ingredients.

In a letter to the FDA, Democratic Senators Richard Durbin of
Illinois and Maria Cantwell of Washington state asked the agency to
reveal the names of all importers of the contaminated rice protein
concentrate, which was first recalled last week by Wilbur-Ellis Co.
of San Francisco, and the names of the companies that received the
shipments.

"We have learned that in addition to Wilbur-Ellis, a second United
States company imported a shipment of rice protein from China that is
also likely to be contaminated with melamine," the senators
wrote. "We request the FDA identify this second importer as well as
those manufacturers to which it may have sold the contaminated
product."

The FDA confirmed at Tuesday afternoon's teleconference that another
company also imported rice protein concentrate from the same Chinese
company as Wilbur-Ellis, but the agency continued to refused to
identify the U.S. company.

On Monday, however, China finally gave U.S. regulators permission to
enter the country to investigate whether Chinese suppliers had
exported contaminated pet food ingredients to the United States this
year, The New York Times reported.

Previously, China had barred FDA representatives from entering the
country despite evidence that the contaminant in the U.S. pet food
supply came from Chinese exporters of wheat gluten and other animal
feed ingredients, the Times said.

Meanwhile, another manufacturer, SmartPak of Plymouth, Mass.,
announced that it has recalled its LiveSmart Weight Management
Chicken and Brown Rice Dog Food, which it said could contain
contaminated rice protein concentrate.


San Diego Union Tribune
2:31 p.m. April 26, 2007

WASHINGTON – Several hundred of the 6,000 hogs that may have eaten
contaminated pet food are believed to have entered the food supply
for humans, the government said Thursday. The potential risk to human
health was said to be very low.
The government told the three states involved it would not allow meat
from any of the hogs that ate the feed to enter the food supply.


No more than 345 hogs from farms in California, New York and South
Carolina are involved, according to the Agriculture Department. It
appears the large majority of the hogs that may have been exposed are
still on the farms where they are being raised, spokeswoman Nicol
Andrews said.
Salvaged pet food from companies known or suspected of using a
tainted ingredient was shipped to hog farms in seven states for use
as feed.

The government will compensate farmers if they kill those hogs, said
Kenneth Peterson of department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The department knew of no countries moving to suspend imports of U.S.
pork products.

Also, a poultry feed mill in an eighth state, Missouri, also received
possibly contaminated pet food scraps left over from production. The
fate of the feed made from that waste was under investigation.

The pet food sent to the farms later was discovered to have an
ingredient, rice protein concentrate, imported from China that was
tainted by an industrial chemical, melamine. Testing also revealed
other related and similarly banned compounds, including cyanuric
acid. Food and Drug Administration inspectors were preparing to visit
China as part of the agency's investigation.

Melamine is not considered a human health concern. But there is no
scientific data on the health effects of melamine combined with the
other compounds, said David Elder, director of enforcement for the
FDA.

Still, the FDA and Agriculture Department believe the likelihood of
someone becoming ill after eating pork from hogs fed contaminated
feed is very low. Meanwhile, the University of California, Davis, is
developing a test to measure melamine levels in tissue, Andrews said.

Since mid-March, pet food companies have recalled more than 100
brands of dog and cat food and treats; more recalls were announced
Thursday. An unknown number of cats and dogs have fallen ill or died
after eating products made with contaminated rice protein concentrate
or a second tainted ingredient, wheat gluten.

Some pet food, while unsuitable for sale for that purpose, was still
considered safe for animals to eat as it had not been recalled at the
time it was forwarded to hog farms. Its use at hog farms raised the
possibility that melamine entered the human food supply.

The department on Thursday released the following state-by-state
breakdown of its investigation into farms thought to have received
the contaminated pet food for use as hog feed. The farms were not
identified.

CALIFORNIA: State officials are working to contact the purchasers of
50 whole hogs raised on a single farm.

NEW YORK: A breeder farm's 125 to 140 swine are under quarantine
pending the results of urine and manure tests. None of the hogs went
to slaughter.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Urine tests done on some of the 800 hogs now
quarantined at a farm have tested positive for low levels of
melamine. None went to slaughter. According to the state
veterinarian, none of the suspect feed was fed to the hogs. Federal
tests on the feed have come up negative. The positive urine tests
could not be immediately explained, although contaminated feed could
have escaped detection during tests, the FDA said.

NORTH CAROLINA: A farm with 1,400 hogs is under quarantine. It
shipped 54 animals to a slaughterhouse, where they are on voluntary
hold.

UTAH: Eight hogs sent to slaughter by one farm remain on hold. Also
on hold are 3,300 hogs at a second farm, as well as 40 to 50
carcasses at a slaughterhouse supplied by that producer. Meat from no
more than 100 other hogs from the producer, all processed earlier by
that same plant, may have entered the food supply, Andrews said.

KANSAS: Meat from 195 hogs from a single producer may have entered
the food supply via a Nebraska slaughterhouse. The farm is holding
another 150 hogs.

OKLAHOMA: A show hog operation purchased contaminated feed but no
hogs have gone to slaughter.

In addition, an Ohio hog farm has been cleared.

Each year, about 105 million hogs are slaughtered and processed in
the United States.


It is coming to point where you can't trust commercial food
suppliers. You need to talk to farmers and primary producers so you
know what is being fed to the animals.


Luvz,
Kathy


 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
You can say that again. I love my pork. I wonder how we are supposed to tell if our pork's been tainted? hmmmmmmm. :frown:
 
Top